evacuation without pets?

Beside the terrible human loss, I cringed when I read about the forced evacuation of New Orleans, where people had to leave their animals behind. And you can't count on Buddy (if he survived at all) being there after you come back now that some rescuers have the policy to shoot (nonthreatening!) dogs:
dallasnews Video
Imagine how a family feels, who has lost everything to come home- just to find their dog shot a few hours ago...

In a few weeks one can sort out which dogs were just roaming around waiting for their people to get home and which are strays, so IMHO any action against dogs which are no threat now is overly hastened.

All I can do, beside donating to organizations like

www.bestfriends.org
www.aspca.org
www.hsus.org
www.noahswish.org
www.uan.org

is to sign this: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/840979272
A Petition to Protect the Animal Victims of Hurricane Katrina
We, the citizens of the world, hereby urge you, Mayor C Ray Nagin, to amend your Emergency Order to include the pets of the evacuees.


I don't know how you feel about this, but as far as I am concerned- my dogs are family members and I wouldn't go without them. If the person is grown up and sane, its his/her decision to stay. If I have to go down because I tried to protect/save a family member- well, so be it. Just one more reason to try to not depend on the system for safety...

Best Regards

Cato

They would have to shoot me to get me to leave my dogs. I would not leave my dogs for anything. It is a very sad situation.

Thank you for your post.

shakes head thats horible there shooting aminals.poor aminals wont even understand whats hapening

Unable to download video, which is probably just as well. Obviously all rescuers have their respective roles to play and passions often run high in such situations. Each must endeavor to appreciate the others, without overly asserting their own power, importance, etc.

Unfortunately, those with guns may tend to use them as a quick 'solution' to what could possibly have been dealt with better by someone else. Lack of communication and the generally overwhelming sense of chaos no doubt contributes to decisions that, later in retrospect, are deeply regretted by all concerned.

Emotions can easily overule common sense under certain circumstances, as we know. Killing though is IRREVERSEABLE and those with the authority and power to do so have to be far more responsible and measured in their responses than the rest of us, as potential victims. That includes innocent frightened animals!

I'm 100% with Chocolate Lab on this, remaining with my pet being the ONLY option, not negotiable. Should shooting begin, my natural reaction if armed would be to return fire, regardless of the consequences. I fully support a citizen's right to bear arms in the USA and furthermore believe every living creature has the God-given right to defend itself.

The "Land of the Free" and "Home of the Brave" necessarily go hand-in-hand. Any American who cannot or refuses to realize the significance of these most basic fundamental principles is welcome to trade places with me, here in Toronto, subsidized apartment included.

I live right by the university where similar 'progressive thinking' is always encouraged. From there it's only a short march to the US embassy, thus very convenient for 'anti-violence' demonstrations. What's more, no personal blood need be shed and everyone gets to party afterwards!

We're From the Government and We're Here to Help...

That's just sickening to hear... :shakehead: :shakehead: